Obsessed with wellness? Want to support a Columbia alum? In need of a good book? Then Jessie Gaynor’s ‘08 (CC) The Glow is the book for you!

I randomly found this book while researching other Columbia alumni books to review for Bwog Books. Immediately enticed by the alluring title and eye-catching cover, I sampled it on my Kindle and was hooked after the first three pages.

Author Jessie Gaynor graduated from Columbia College in 2008. A member of the Women’s Crew Team, she earned her MFA from the University of Iowa and is a senior editor at Literary Hub. Though The Glow is her first novel, Gaynor’s writing has been featured in The New Yorker, WSJ Magazine, and many other publications.

The Glow is a satirical novel that follows PR manager Jane, who, as she approaches 30, is drowning in thousands of dollars of medical debt following the removal of her appendix in college. Desperate to get out of a slump and in need of a new PR project for her company, Jane ends up at FortPath: a wellness retreat led by the charismatic guru Cass. After losing her job and spending a weekend at FortPath, Jane takes a full-time job with Cass and her oblivious husband, Tom. What follows is a chaotic whirlwind of betrayal, lots of zucchini smoothies, and hundreds of laugh-out-loud wellness mantras from Cass.

Alongside the humor that pervades The Glow, Gaynor also addresses questions about consumption, branding, and the toxicity of wellness. For me, half the time I loved Jane, the protagonist, but at other times, her indifference and unabashed use of Cass for the furthering of her own career infuriated me. However, despite these annoyances, The Glow was the perfect mashup of beach read, moral thriller, and satire, which I would 10/10 recommend.

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